Account-keeping apparatus



( No Model.)

S. H. BOYLAN. ACCOUNT KEEPING APPARATUS.

N0. 516;96-1.- Patented Mar. 20, 1894.

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SAMUEL H. BOYLAN, OF ARMOUR, SOUTH'DAKOTA.

ACCOUNT-KEEPING APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 516,961, dated March 20, 1894.

Application filed July 8,1893. Serial No. 479,871. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, SAMUEL H. BOYLAN, of Armour, in the county of Douglas and State of South Dakota, haveinvented a new and Improved Account-Keeping Apparatus, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

My invention relates to improvements in an apparatus intended to facilitate the keeping of accounts of all kinds, both business and personal.

The object of my invention is to providea simple apparatus by means of which the many books, such as the day-book, journal, cash-' book, invoice-book, ledger, 850., may be dispensed with, although the apparatus may be used in connection with most ordinary books if preferred.

The apparatusis adapted for keeping either single or double entry accounts and is intended to preserve the original entries in a compact and convenient manner, so that the said entries maybe instantly referred to when desired and conveniently filed away for future 7 use.

The apparatus is also intended to provide a convenient means for preserving papers of all kinds.

To these ends my invention consists of certain features of construction and combinations of parts, as will be hereinafter described and claimed.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification, in which similar figures of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the views.v

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the apparatus embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section on the line 2-2 in Fig. 3. Fig. 3 is a cross section on the line 3-3 in Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a front elevation of one of the envelopes and account tickets used in connection with the apparatus. Figs. 5 and 6 are detail views of the tickets used in keeping accounts; and Fig. 7 is a diagram of the blank from which the ticket envelope is made.

The apparatus is provided with a suitable two-part case 10 and 11, preferably of rectangular shape, the part 11 serving as a cover and having a handle 12 by which the whole case may be lifted. At one end the cover 11 is provided with depending spring catches 13 which engage notches in the ends of the case 10, as shown in Fig. 2, while at the other end the cover 13 has a depending spring latch 14 to engage a keeper 15 on the lower half of the case, but any suitable fastening device may be substituted for the catches shown. The lower half 10 of the case has, near its upper and lower corners, longitudinal guide rails 16 on which the follower l7 slides,tl1e follower having dovetail connections with the rails to prevent it from being easily displaced. The follower 17 is adapted to hold in place the envelopes and accounts to he hereinafter described, and it slides longitudinally in the lower half'lO of the case which it fits snugly. The follower has a base flange 18 which tits between the two lower rails 16, and it has also side flanges 19 which move between the upperand lower rails 16, and this arrangement enables the follower to be pulled out beyond the ends of the case,- so that the case is practically extensible and the envelopes and accounts may be held in the flanges of the follower, even when the latter is extended beyond the end of the case. The follower 17 is provided with a suitable pull 20 by which it may be moved. The accounts are kept on tickets of convenient size, which are inclosed in envelopes 21, these being appropriately numbered and marked, as described presently, and each envelope has an opening 22 in one side through which the heading of the account ticket may be seen. The envelope is made from a blank 23 which has end flaps 24 adapted to be folded over in the customary way when the envelope is formed, and it has side flaps 25 and 26 which are recessed or cut into, as shown at 27, one side of the incision forming a curved line 28, so that when the side flaps are folded in, the opening 22 will appear in the envelope front and at a point coincident with the incisions 27.

The envelopes may be ruled upon their back in any desired way, so as to provide for entering accounts upon them, and the title of the account may also be written upon each envelope to indicate the account which it contains. The envelopes contain tickets 29 on which either debit or credit accounts maybe entered, the balance in either case being properly footed; and the envelopes are filed with their tickets in the case behind the follower 17, the envelopes being consecutively numbered, while at frequent intervals, say at every twenty-fifth envelope, a tag 30 is attached to an envelope so as to project andindicate the number of the envelope, this arrangement of indexing facilitating the speedy location of a desired account.

It will be understood that other forms of envelopes and tickets may be used in connection with this device, and it will be seen that valuable papers of various kinds may be conveniently packed in the case.

The accounts are kept by entering each individual account on its appropriate tickets, inserting the tickets, that is, the debit and credit tickets if there are two, in the appropriate envelopes, and the envelopes which may be appropriately used are marked with the name of the account and the balance and placed in proper sequence in the case and behind the follower 17.

In posting accounts, the accountant begins by placing the case before him, with the closed end toward him; he then loosens the envelopes, so that they may be easily Withdrawn by pulling back the follower slightly, and next placing the tickets, upon which the record of business directions has been previously written, at his left hand, he draws from the case the account desired, at the same time lifting the account next it and back of the one withdrawn above the general level of the others, thus marking the place to which the account should be returned. He writes the amount in figures of the debit or credit, as the case may be, on the outside of the envelope in the appropriate column, and drawing a line under the amounts brings the balance below it. He then places the ticket in the envelope and returns it to its appropriate place in the case. As accounts are balanced and the case becomes crowded for room, those balanced may be removed and filed away in any convenient manner, thus affording space for new accounts. The entry tickets as they are filed in the envelopes, are placed and always remain in their order of the day, and they remain loose or independent of each other until the account is closed, when they may be fastened together in any convenient way and preserved.

While in Fig. 3, the ruled side of the envelope is shown as facing the follower, in practice said side faces in the opposite direction.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. An account keeping apparatus, comprisinga separable two part case, and a follower held to slide longitudinally in the lower part of the case and provided with flanges to enable it to project beyond the end of the case, substantially as described.

2. An account-keeping apparatus, comprising a case having separable lower and upper members connected by suitable catches, and a follower-held to slide iuthe lower member of the case and provided with bottom and side flanges to enable it to project beyond the end of the case, substantially as described.

3. An account-keeping apparatus, comprising a two-part case having its upper or cover portion separable from its lower or body portion, longitudinal guide rails in the body portion of the case, and a follower held to slide on the rails, the follower having flanges projecting inward and sliding on the bottom and sides of the case, substantially as described.

4. An account keeping apparatus, com prising a two part case, havingaremovable cover portion and a lower or body portion which is open at one end, spring catches to secure the two parts together, longitudinal guide rails in the lower or body portion, a follower provided with asuitable pull and arranged to slide on the rails, and flanges or guides secured to the follower and arranged to slide on the bottom and sides of the body portion of the device, substantially asdescribed.

SAMUEL H. BOYLAN.

\Vitnesses:

IRVING H. WELUH, O. L. LATHAM. 

